Rio favela residents protest against deaths in police raid
Residents of Rio’s Complexo do Alemão and Complexo da Penha favelas staged a protest on Wednesday (Oct. 29) outside the Guanabara Palace, the seat of the state government. They accused Governor Claudio Castro of leading “a bloodbath in the police operation” that left more than 100 dead.
The group was escorted from the Complexo da Penha to the palace by military police officers.
Protesters held signs with slogans such as “genocidal state,” “all lives matter,” “150 deaths for a political war,” and “Castro murderer.” Dozens of Brazilian flags were also displayed, stained with red.
“It is unacceptable that this governor is not held accountable for so many lives. Or do we already have the death penalty in this country? What happened in the favela was genocide. Whenever a new election approaches, they plan an operation to enter our favela, kill our people, and wreak havoc,” said Rute Sales, a local resident and black activist.
“The bodies are being used for political purposes. And the bodies that are falling are ours – the bodies of black people and poor people. We can’t stand it anymore,” she went on to declare.
The demonstration took place shortly before the meeting between Governor Castro and Minister of Justice and Public Security Ricardo Lewandowski. They announced the creation of an emergency office to tackle organized crime in the state and improve integration between the federal and state spheres.
Minister Lewandowski said the federal government will increase the number of federal highway police officers on the roads by 50 as well as the number of intelligence agents in the state. Experts and positions in federal prisons have also been made available, should the state government request them.
Despite the death toll, the chaos that engulfed the city, and reports from the residents that executions and torture took place in the favelas themselves, Castro said Operation Contenção (“Containment”) was a success and that the only victims of the clashes were the four police officers who were killed.
He said he had dealt a “heavy blow to crime” and that there had been no rashness on the part of the security forces.
